Revised order.
Went from a 2017 G30 540i xDrive to a 2018 F36 440i xDrive Gran Coupe. No issues with getting an allocation this time around. Latest is an August production with late September delivery but working to see if I can get an earlier production date. Hopefully no hiccups this time around. *fingers crossed*
While I'm happy for you, I'm a bit disappointed. But I certainly understand why you chose to cancel your order, considering you told us about it weeks ago and it had yet passed phase one. Did you ever get any reasoning behind the delay?
And did you order the 440i with the power and sound kit? It should push HP and torque to above 360 for each.
Two done, two to go, wow, these are __beastly__.
For fun, I picked up some red open ended lugs (from Gorilla), there's a slick little end cap you can get, if I like them I'll add those as well. They're not super long either, about 1.8", and with the concavity of this wheel design, they should be about perfect.
I'm having trouble visualizing these caps on the lugs. I'm familiar with Gorilla lugs, just not the concept of capping them. Unless you meant the tire caps?
From WTB (wasn't willing to pay normal mail order price) to received in < 48 hours
😀
View attachment 709196
Swapping out the off gray start button for the GT350's red?
[doublepost=1500508882][/doublepost]
Re: Private Reserve
They are a small but well-respected ink company based in central Indiana. They have a "core" group of about 40 colors, but also are known for special runs for big pen shows and the like. They just kind of plod along and do their thing, turning out a solid product for a good price. There are a couple of stores around here that sell their products, which is why I actually have quite a bit from them(in my home stash-not my office stash). Among their staple inks, I find "American Blue" to be a great all around blue color for general writing. It's about the same hue as Waterman blue, but with a stronger/more saturated color. They make a nice range of green inks, but I've settled on "Sherwood Green" as a good, general purpose hunter green(or shall we say British Racing Green 🙂 ) type color. I've not found a red from them that I really like, and I've tried a couple of different ones.
Interesting. That's probably why I never saw them in the few stores here that sell supplies. I've probably come across them online but paid no attention due to the generic sounding name. I'll have to take a look at them.
Red inks are very hard to like. Too many shades out there. If you contact companies you like, they're often willing to send out tubed samples for a small fee.
BTW, there are a couple of companies that make only inks without making pens. By and large, they are very well respected. Companies like Private Reserve and Noodlers don't use fancy bottles but just provide a solid product.
I like Noodler's for the fact they use a nice label for each ink. Rarely does the image correspond with the ink color, but it does add some variety to an otherwise boring label.
Most of the pen companies have their own distinctive bottles for ink, and they are often designed with an eye toward practicality event though many elaborate designs. Waterman and Pelikan bottles, for example, are designed to be turned on their side when they are low to give a deeper pool from which to draw ink. Lamy bottles are ugly but quite utilitarian-they have a "well" in the center that drops down into a plastic ring(containing a handy roll of dropper paper) so that you can get the last ink out. Probably the best known is the Mont Blanc "shoe." When the bottle is low, you can tilt it and fill the "heel" and draw your ink from that. The old Sheaffer's "Ink Well" bottles were the best, though-the have a trough molded into the mouth of the bottle that can be filled by tilting the bottle. It works best with Sheaffer's Snorkel pens, but can be used with anything.
I'm familiar with a few bottle purposes, but I've never really reached a low enough level to have to do that.
Most of the blue prints just have additional surfactants. I've done some ink mixing myself and have added small amounts of Kodak PhotoFlo which is essentially what they have in it-some folks suggest Dawn if you don't have and don't want to buy a huge bottle of PhotoFlo to get a half milliter. I do have the big bottle since it's a necessary evil for darkroom work.
Dawn? As in the dish soap? I'm guessing they keep the pigment bonded to everything else?
Iron gall inks in some senses are relics from the past, but were among the first "permanent" inks. The iron compounds themselves are nearly colorless in solution, but over the course of a few days oxidize to a dark blue-black color. Modern formulas usually have a blue dye so that what is written is immediately visible, but the ink will darken over time. Freshly written Pelikan blue-black, for example, is sort of a pale blue-gray color, but within a day will be nearly black. It's a fun thing for me to see when, for example, I'm making lecture notes and pick up where I left off the previous day. BTW, the blue dye will usually wash out if it gets wet but the iron gall stays(it can be bleached out).
Interesting. I've been tempted to try my hand at making pure gall ink myself. The oaks here do not produce galls, but they do upstate. I got in touch with someone a few years ago who made the stuff but charged a small fortune for very little ink. I've heard some old tales that gall ink used to be the real invisible ink used back a very long time ago in history.
The downside to iron gall inks is that they are slightly acidic and generally corrosive. Although they are "permanent" inks they are not archival since they can be rough on the paper. If you are not careful about keeping your pen clean, they can turn into a real mess. Although it's not really an issue now with stainless steel nibs, in general I try to always pair iron gall with a gold nib.
I tend to clean my nibs and only draw enough ink to use in one go or a few days or sketching/doodling. I then clean them out using a fountain pen cleaning solution. As I said, I rarely find a serious need to use them. I usually daily something cheap and decent, like a Zebra pen. Nice, goof heft, cheap to replace. For mechanicals, I really love the Graphgears. I use a Staedtler lead holder for marking stuff. Keep in the garage. Incredibly useful. A local supply store sells wax pencils by the bunch for way under MSRP. Those come in useful for just about everything.
